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Painting

Hello folks! I would like to share with you a way of building a simple yet effective palette I invented/discovered this summer, in order to make paint last longer and save valuable time and money when it's really hot.

Note1: This was created specifically to deal with HEAT (more than 80F / 26C) and LOW AIR MOISTURE. As of today, march 13, it's the end of the summer and it's still quite hot and dry where I live, in Chile, the southern hemisphere. IT HAS NOT BEEN TESTED DURING OTHER SEASONS OR WEATHER CONDITIONS; anyone willing to try this is encouraged to do so!

Note2: I would like to clarify that even though I came up with this idea on my own (greatly inspired by the good old wet palette) I do not claim to be the inventor or the first one discovering this method. For the same reason this may not
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Flock is always a great (necessary, some might say!) addition to any miniature model basing. It's a quick way to bring three-dimensional texture and life to a more-or-less 2-D surface. Usually, our choices are limited to green, dark green, brown, etc; and maybe some static-cling grass fibers, or sand and pebbles, or whatever. What's left out? Flowers,
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It was one of those days. I had a migraine and while I was feeling sorry for myself I popped in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer, DVD. I knew I needed to eat something (didn’t want to though) so I ate a bunch of grapes.
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Hi everyone. Here is my first article about how to paint a Space Marine vindicator in the colours of the Blood Angels. As I said, it is my first article here, but hopefully it might still be of some use to people. I painted it up before doing the article, so I have some Paint illustrations to help.

So I was working on the base for my trollblood guy and I though I might as well take advantage of this opportunity to bring you guys our first article on basing. I was going for a pretty simple base with a bit of a marshy feel. So lets get to the fun stuff! Ok so to start off I made a mass of milliput in the rough shape of a rock. At this point you can't really make it look
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In late June I began to build a space helicopter for my Imperial Guard, mainly as a display piece. I wanted to loosely base it on the UH-1 Iroquois, or “Huey” as well as on the Avatar’s choppers. The chopper is to secretly insert IG special forces (the so called Tiger Teams) deep behind enemy lines. Compared to real life, this would be a “Pave Low” mission, and for this the basic color of the chopper would have to be black. To go along with the theme of my IG army I named the model after a Greek God –CHARON, the ferryman in the underworld.
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Almost one year ago I've started to collect my SM army. I've an idea to have army on Drop Pods instead of Rhinos. The most important thing was that I wanted to have a 'real' looking pods, which wasn't an easy thing because of the lack of drop pods in real life. There was only one pod in SM Codex (white Scars), which looked quite nice, but I've got an idea to push weathering and battle damage to the next level. With brush and paints I've started to develop my pods. In this tutorial I'll only write about 'rusty gold' because many people ask me how have I done it.

After some searching for a colour scheme and not being too happy with what I’ve found on the net, I’ve decided to create a tutorial on how to paint death guard my way. It isn’t the only way to paint these models of coarse, the myriad of detail on these models allow for endless possibility when choosing a sickly pallet suitable for these abominations. As always, all mixes are approximate in this tutorial, and you should feel free to adjust amounts and substitute colours where you wish.
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One project nearly every miniature painter needs to tackle at some point is painting human/elf/dwarf flesh. If you are new to the task, likely you'll ask your friends or aquaintences online what recipes they use, and for nearly everyone you ask, you may get a different answer. With miniature painting's increasing online presance, many time these folks who answer you back may not be local to you, and they may not have examples of how their recipes look available online. If you are an experienced painter with a favorite recipe or two of your own, the desire to branch out, create variety in your miniatures collection, or just try for something different, can be beset by th same difficulties. Even looking at the pictures of the bottles online or in your local store doesn't really give you an idea of what they may look like all mixed and blended together on your favortie miniature. In an effort to give people a bit more information on which to make these decisions I have collected a number of flesh recipes using some of the most commonly used and widely available paint brands, and present them here for your reference. Please
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This tutorial covers the general process of painting a basic bone coloured Deathwing Terminator for your Dark Angels army. The same technique could be applied to painting any bone coloured model, not just a Deathwing terminator, but as I'm currently working on a bunch of them it's the one on the painting table today.
Enjoy
-Mallius

Step 1: After Cleaning and assembling the model I’ve given it a thorough priming with a bone coloured primer. If you don’t have a can of bone coloured primer handy you can achieve the same coverage by using an air brush, or simply prime the model white and then with a large brush paint over the entire model with bleached bone. I’ve made sure to prime the model with several coats consisting of short controlled bursts on all sides, this allows for greater coverage and a smoother finish. Two thin coats of primer should be adequate, just make sure to allow each coat to completely dry before applying the next.

Step 2: Glaze the entire model with Griphonne Sepia Wash. Make sure that your brush isn’t overloaded with the wash to prevent pooling, to do this simply run the brush along the lip of the paint pot to be rid of any excess. This may take some trial and error to get the correct amount of wash on your brush, but have patience.

Step 3: With a large brush (I used the basecoat brush) clean up the model, and pick out the raised areas with bleached bone. I also highlighted with broad lines around the edges of the shoulder pads and the tops of the knee pads/grieves. In this step these general highlights will determine the general locations of further highlights.

Step 4: Paint any areas of the model that are to be black, grey or nmm with fenris grey. This will serve as a colour guide for the model and a general base coat for these areas. If you get any grey paint on the adjacent bone coloured areas don’t worry you can go over any touch up areas with bleached bone after you’re done painting the grey.

Step 5: Pick out the other coloured areas with dark angels green and blood red. If you dilute the paints approx. 1 part paint to 1 part water you can use the paint similarly to a more concentrated wash. The paint should not run but be pushed into the crevices with controlled flow from your brush. If done this way the bone colour beneath should be ample enough to provide highlights
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This tutorial will show you how to create realistic tank tread weathering. Not surprisingly I'm using pigments from Secret Weapon Miniatures, but the same effect can be achieved with any brand -- although the colours may vary slightly.

Since I play wood elves, I wanted to make a nice forest, to use as my free wood. I wanted it to look as good as possible, while still be pretty easy to make. I also wanted something portable. I read several tutorials online and came up with this method.

You will need:

* A piece of styrofoam, the size of your desired forest, about 1" thick. More is ok.
* White glue (PVA)
* Sand, regular sand pit stuff will do.
* About 5m of 1.2mm copper wire, can be a bit thicker
* About 10m of 0.8 copper wire, can be a bit thinner
* Toilet paper / paper towels
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Each 2 wires will make one branch, so if you want more or
less branches add or subtract 2 wires.

Bunch up your set of wires for a tree and grip them with the
pliers twisting the wire to create the trunk. After you have a long enough
trunk, go ahead and twist out the branches. After you have twisted them out,
bend them around enough to look like a gnarled tree. Trim the “roots” so that
they fit on the base you are using.

For this article, I have painted Telcharion from Enigma’s ‘Massive Darkness’ range. I thought it might make a good article figure, because it is fairly simple, with clearly defined parts – I chose to focus on the painting of the flesh, the robes, and the apron. I also recorded and explained the construction of the base.

Preparation

As I have mentioned in previous articles, I think it is worth putting a little time into the preparation of a figure, before the painting begins. Creating a nice, smooth surface with which to work makes life a lot easier, and less frustrating, when it comes to painting, meaning a little extra time at this prep stage can save a lot of headaches later.

After removing the mould lines carefully by scraping with a scalpel, and filing any particularly rough bits with an assortment of needle files, I used sandpaper (400-800 grade works well) to gently smooth out any other areas that remained rough. After this, I scrubbed the figure with a wire brush – be careful the bristles are not too hard; mine has brass bristles I think, but if you use one with bristles that are too hard, they will scratch the figure and ruin it. Test a new brush on something unimportant first! After this, you can use a toothbrush and wash the figure in warm soapy water, to remove any oil or dust from the surface before paint is applied. This scrubbing with the brushes is what makes the figure shiny and gleaming (sort of!).

If there is any pitting or cracks in the cast, these can be filled in with a liquid putty, or with milliput mixed with water to create a sort of 'wash'. This wash can be painted liberally over the figure, allowing the milliput to settle in any depressions or marks, resulting in a smoother surface. It can also be gently sanded once dry, if necessary. I find that milliput standard (yellow-grey) works best; I find it a lot easier to work with, than the superfine versions, with which I have encountered problems.

You can see the figure is standing on a champagne cork in all the following WIP photos. I always paint my figures like this, because I find it a lot easier to hold this way. I drill a hole into the bottom of each foot usually about a centimetre deep, and insert metal wire into each with superglue. Leaving 2 or 3 centimetres protruding from each foot allows the wires to be stuck into the cork to hold the figure, and later, they are used to attach it securely to the base.

For this figure, I also made a few little adjustments to the face, using a putty mix of greenstuff (a.k.a. duro or kneadatite) and milliput. I mix milliput with the greenstuff, because I find it easier to create a smooth transition between the metal and sculpted areas; also, it means you can sand the putty once dry to be sure it is smooth. These little changes to the face weren’t strictly necessary, merely a personal thing – I just wanted to slightly reposition the brows, mainly. It was a small adjustment to sharpen the facial features a little.

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Base coats, Colour Selection and Contrast

After undercoating (I used Tamiya Surface Primer spray, which is a mid-grey colour – you can see it on the hammers in the following photos), I painted the base colours onto the main areas of the figure. I find it helpful to paint the bulk of the base colours first, because it lets me get a preview of how the various colours might work together, and helps me make decisions about the main colour scheme. I usually work out the basic colour scheme I want to use before I start painting, but after painting on the base colours like this, I often change my mind about a particular colour once I see it against the other colours in reality, on the figure.

I like to use quite high colour contrast when painting fantasy figures, because I think that exaggerated colour, lighting and contrast suits the ‘hyper-reality’ of the fantasy world. I think it is worth pushing beyond what might be ‘realistic’; realism has its place, and certainly, when painting historical figures a realistic style might be more appropriate. But the whole point of fantasy lies in its exaggeration of reality, so in my view, it is good to take this opportunity to create a figure with a bit more ‘impact’. I think fantasy is more about strong visual ideas, rather than creating something that looks real.

With this in mind, I used a few different methods to create contrast within the colour scheme chosen for this figure. First of all, there is a contrast between warm and cool colours: the ‘coldest’ colour present on the figure is the strong cyan colour of the pants, belt and arm straps. This cyan is balanced against the warm, light orange tones of the flesh, and the warm, dark-orange-brown of the apron – cyan and orange are opposites on the colour wheel. The yellow-green of the robes, and the dark red-purple of the boots and other little leather components, are also opposites, both colours lying in-between the warm and cold ‘poles’ of the cyan and orange, and thus perform the role of supporting colours, balanced against each other. In combination, these colours create a sort of ‘quadratic’ colour scheme, with all 4 hues creating an even spread of hues around the colour wheel, and hopefully a balanced scheme which is pleasing to the eye.

Here’s a little pictorial representation of what I am talking about, with the basic colour palette spaced around a circle representing a colour wheel. Please excuse the roughness of the pic – it's just a quick one to try to show you the main ideas, so excuse the inaccuracies. The cyan is opposite in hue to red-orange, so they are on opposite sides of the circle. The yellow-green and red-purple hues are a little closer in hue to the orange than the cyan, which is why they are spaced a little further towards the orange on the circle. This is compensated for by the fact that the cyan is the brightest, or most ‘saturated’ of all the colours in the palette, and this extra brightness means it has more ‘weight’ in the scheme – it can balance against all the other colours.

Another way by which contrast is created with the colour scheme, is the balance between light and dark areas on the figure. I tried to make a conscious effort to have a wide range of colour ‘value’ across the figure; that is, rather than using colour that all lie within a mid range of light-dark value, I used areas of very dark colour, such as the apron, hair and purple leather parts, against much lighter areas, such as the flesh. This created a more dynamic look for the figure, with the added value contrast.

Contrast can also be created by using a wide range of ‘saturation’ or brightness between colours. So, for example, on this figure, there are some very saturated colours, such as the cyan pants, belt and arms straps, and parts of the green robes. Setting these colours against much less saturated, more neutral parts, such as the apron, hair, hammers, and most of the base makes them seem even brighter. If too many strong colours are used in a colour scheme, I think their impact is reduced – saturated colours will compete against each other for attention, and maybe cause a bit of a ‘colour clash’. So I think it is important to remember to have some fairly neutral areas, even when painting in fantasy style.

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The Flesh

After the base coat, which was a mix of P3 Midlund Flesh, P3 Rucksack Tan and GW Fortress Grey, with a touch of P3 Menoth White Highlight, the first step was to begin identifying the shadows. Using a red-orange colour, I painted a series of thin glazes in the shadows, giving the flesh some colour.

Then, I continued the shading, using a darker red-brown colour to further emphasise the volumes. It is important to always keep in mind the direction of the light source – you need to have made a clear decision on the direction from which the light is falling, in order to maintain coherence with your shadows and highlights. In this case, I am using top-down or (‘zenithal’) lighting, which is the most common and the easiest to visualise. Just imagine the light falling onto the figure from directly above, as if someone was shining a torch down onto the figure.

Next, I emphasised the shadows even further, introducing a little dark green-blue into the darkest areas. Because it is applied in thin glazes, the colour does not show up as anything too obvious, but it does add some depth to the overall colour and appearance, in my opinion.

At this point, I started to apply some highlights. First, I neatened any rough-looking areas with some glazes of the original base colour to blur the blending a little. Then, I mixed P3 Menoth White Highlight with the base colour for the first stage of highlighting, and some touches of pure Menoth White Highlight. I also added a touch more of the dark green-blue in the deepest shadows.

Hi,
I just bought my first Warmachine models some weeks ago. I decided to paint my Cryx jacks with an alternative theme, because I don't like the 'offical' theme very much. I chose bone as my main colour and some corroded bronze and rusted metal to other parts. I painted first one deathripper, and I was pretty pleased on the result. When I was starting to paint the second one, my brother asked me to make a step by step on it. I took many photos to make the tutorial easy to follow.

I assume you can do blending. If you don't, look at the CMoN articles page, there's lot of blending tutorials. I also assume you have basic knowledge about NMM(non-metallic metals).

I suppose you to use wet pallette, because you have to mix paints much.

Here's how I made it.

Pre-painting:

Before painting or assembling, I removed the mould lines and washed the parts. Then I assembled it. The base were made of cork. It wasn't really hard, I just cut some parts of a cork board and cracked them
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